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Grammar: one word, two systems (morphology and syntax)

This is a post comes from an answer I gave to a question on Quora. It sums up my definition of grammar so well I felt it was worth reproducing it for you here.

Question: Are there any explanations of grammar available that don’t use technical words?

Words are words, technical or not.

Here is how I got through grammar.

Firstly, there are two types of grammar in terms of what they aim to explain –MorphologyandSyntax.

Morphology is about how words change (morph). Syntax is about how words work in a sentence.

Morphology revolves around terms like:

Noun

Verb

Adjective

Adverb

Pronoun

Preposition

Determiner

Conjunction

Syntax revolves around terms like:

Subject

Verb

Object

Complement

Adverbial

Note here that verb appears in both morphology and syntax terminology. Therefore there are two meanings to verb. In morphology a verb is how it changes to make, for example, tenses (past, present or future). In syntax it is how it describes what the subject is doing (and whether it is affecting an object or objects).

Keep these two groups of grammar separate and you will master grammar, particularly when it comes to the meaning of verb when you hear or use it.

:::.:::.:.::.

A further note, these minimum number of terms have been enough to get through understanding grammar. The biggest issue is to understand that grammar is a term for the two systems of morphology and syntax.